While getting my weekly dose of sustainability news, I came across a reference to Levi’s waste<less program. Having never heard of the program, I had to investigate, and was intrigued by what I found.
The ad above kind of says it all. Levi’s takes plastic bottles and food trays, and turns them into a polyester fibre which is then incorporated into it’s cotton fabric. The result? A pair of jeans that contains the equivalent of 8 bottles worth of plastic. So what sort of environmental impact does this have? According to Levi’s website, “In the spring of 2013, we’ll recycle approximately 3.5 million PET plastic bottles.”
This is a pretty great environmental initiative from the world’s largest jean company, and it turns out it’s not the first. Levi’s also works with Better Cotton Initiative, to improve the lives of the people that produce cotton. And, in 2011, Levi’s launched water<less, a denim collection that uses significantly less water in its finishing process. In 2012, that initiative saved 170 million litres of water.
Levi’s seems to be taking a leadership role, promoting sustainability in every step of its manufacturing and sales process. And really, it should. Levi’s invented the blue jean, and I personally love it when a company that basically started an industry can change with the times and stay on top. (Anyone following recent Nintendo news will know what I mean).
There is one other thing that crossed my mind: what happens to the denim when it wears out? Levi’s actively encourages consumers to donate their used denim to Goodwill (which in my opinion, just makes sense) but what happens when the jeans are beyond repair? Most discarded denim ends up in the landfill, and I’m wondering how Levi’s plastic/cotton blend material will fare. Interestingly, the company doesn’t address this on its website. Personally, I would like to see Levi’s adopt a recycling program, such as the one offered by Blue Jeans Go Green. Because, while it is great to have denim go to two or more users, the end result is the same: the clothing is discarded.
This is an interesting campaign because it really allows the consumer who wears these jeans to make a visible statement about their values. It would be a great conversation starter if you wore these, and an easy way to signal that you care about sustainability. I think (and research suggests) that a major reason people buy green products is often for this very reason – to be seen as someone who cares about the environment, and who can afford to spend a bit more (since green products are often pricier). There’s a great paper on that motive here: http://www.carlsonschool.umn.edu/assets/140554.pdf
Thank you for this post Dragana.
I’ve heard of jean companies talk about 100% organic cotton or even how jean companies try to implement a cradle to cradle type of brand where they recycle old clothing, but I had no idea that you could make jeans out of garbage. I’m actually quite surprised that this is the first time I’m hearing about something like this. Do you know how they marketed the program?
I’m curious as to whether this is for all of their jeans or just select ones. I’ve been to Levi’s before and haven’t heard anything about this campaign. It’s interesting that they’re the only one who’s doing this though – I thought other jean companies would have seen this as a baseline. However, I have yet to hear about other companies producing jeans to shift towards this kind of activity.